As of today the geographical ISIS caliphate, the open control over territory, has ended. There is no longer a geographic land mass under the control and ownership of the extremist ISIS group known as ISIS. All their territory has been removed.

An review of multiple DoD, State and Media reports essentially boils down to ISIS returning to an insurgency, a loosely connected ideological terror group without control over any specific area.

Interestingly, the foreign fighters who traveled to Syria to fight for ISIS were reported as the last ones to give up the caliphate fight. Presumably because they would be unable to assimilate into the local communities, those foreign fighters were the last to be eliminated.

BAGHOUZ, Syria — The caliphate has crumbled, and the final offensive is over. While the official announcement hasn’t yet been made – Fox News has been told that this village, the last ISIS stronghold, is liberated.

It’s the first time since we’ve been here in Syria for five days that the bombs have stopped dropping and the gunfire has disappeared. We have witnessed the end of the caliphate – the brutal empire that once ruled over 8 million people – is gone

The last five days, Fox News has witnessed the last major offensive up close -– with U.S.-backed SDF forces attacking ISIS from three sides, pushing the fighters back, house to house, then tent to tent, against the Euphrates River.

Inside Baghouz, it’s easy to see how they hid for so long – not just in tunnels but trenches and hundreds of cubby holes covered by tarpaulins, which blend in perfectly to the dirt.

In the end, the majority surrendered. In fact, since the start of the year about 60,000 have dripped into the desert, and most are now held in camps.

There is a major concern about what to do with the camps though. The SDF has asked for U.S. support in setting up a tribunal here to prosecute them. (read more)

President Trump took office with specific instructions to the U.S. military to use all options to eliminate the ISIS caliphate.

For four-and-a-half years, ISIS held this territory, ruling over it with an iron fist. It was the terrorist group’s heartland – and they were so dug in that the only way to push them back was to flatten whole villages. The devastation here goes on for miles – and craters like this are a reminder of the critical role played by U.S. airpower. Military jets still fly overhead.

SDF fighters are all so grateful to the U.S., not just for their help in the battle, but now for its decision to leave troops here when it’s done. (link)

President Assad was interviewed a year ago about his “De-escalation Zone” program. Apparently Russia transported really tough, Sunni-Chechen forces to Syria and these made a point of finding and talking with foreign Sunni Jihadi from Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco etc.

Turns out, most of these Sunni Jihadi were recruited to “defend threatened Sunni Syrians,” but they arrived and discovered Syrian Sunni / Shia / Alawiths living peacefully together, studying in grade school together, marketing together, serving as nurses and doctors in hospitals together and so on. Many of the recruits were now anxious to go home, but couldn’t say it openly.

So the Chechen troops hired buses — ostensibly to move encircled jihadi to a “De-escalation Zone” — but actually to separate out the homesick youths, who were given air-tickets and and pocket money to have something on their return to Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco.

In other words, over the last three years, Syria and Russia have largely repatriated mislead-Jihadi, rather than kill them. What is there not to love about the Assad-Russia “De-escalation Zone” program?

Amazing how fast ISIS was defeated west of the Euphrates compared to east of the river.

In the west the Russians and Syrians showed no mercy, ISIS who were Syrians were allowed back, if they wanted to and recanted, otherwise they and foreigners were killed.

In the east the US and the Kurds allowed ISIS to be surrender (est 3000 at Raqqa) rather than killed them so now face the problem, well not the US its the other side of the Atlantic, of what to do with defeated but still fanatical ISIS.

Mattis was SoD when US and allied forces recaptured of much northern Iraq and Syria, including the cities of Jarabulus, Mosul and Raqqa. Furthermore, the operations which finished off the caliphate today began during his tenure.

Objectively, Mattis supervised the the vast majority of the operations which ultimately defeated ISIS. Any honest analysis of his performance as Secretary of Defense will take that into account.

So what is to be done with these veterans of butchery? As noted in the article, the native butchers, where possible, will blend back into the local populations. But what about the western butchers who went over there to help with the slaughter?

There won’t be any problem taking these bloodtubs back in certain western countries…you know, the ones who will call you racist if you aren’t fully welcoming to these creatures. It will be fascinating to watch, as these home delivery jihadis come back to what today counts as “civilized society”.

The estimate is that ISIS at its peak was between 45000 and 60000. There are probably in the low thousands of ISIS fighters now in captivity, plus lots of families the women of whom are often also hardened killers and fanatics. Some children as well.

It is believed that many of the leaders were given their freedom by the US when they handed over the contents of their treasuries, estimated at $billions.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that they should be handed over to the legitimate authorities, in this case the Syrian Arab Army. Who incidently are still fighting isolated ISIS cells on their side of the river. The Euphrates being the dividing line. Also there are still many ISIS units still roaming over Syria east of the river and west Iraq basically operating as bandits in the deserts.

Good that Syria cluster f is over. Now let’s bring our troops home and place them on our southern border and start stacking razor wire 10 ft high, 20 ft wide in all open spaces. The real war is on our southern border. The middle east non-sense is imaginary.

We still have Assad (whatever you think of him), the remnants of the Syrian “rebels” (whatever you think of them), the Kurds (whatever you think of them), and Erdogan (whatever you think of him) all holding various areas within Syria.

You also have the Deep State, through McConnell, holding the impeachment cudgel in the Senate. We’ve already seen the globalist pushback on US troop withdrawal earlier this year channeled through the Turtle.

All of these stakeholders will keep us pinned in Syria for some time, sadly. Trump has removed a big piece off the board, but there is still a lot of factions left to deal with.

Getting rid of ISIS was my #1 item for a new president to accomplish back in 2015. (eminent danger) Getting rid of political correctness was #2. Everything else was tied for 3rd!!! THANK YOU, President Trump, for delivering!! Your leadership and backbone are an answered prayer for me!

ISIS is now forced to admit (and then deny to themselves) that a relatively small handful of US forces ended their hopes and dreams. The only thing that really changed was the Commander of these US Forces.

There is no force on earth that can withstand the US Military. None. The fact that the whole world isn’t plunged into war at the hand of such a strong force is testament to our righteous resolve.

Sorry but that’s not really correct. Whilst there was indeed a relatively small US force in eastern Syria, estimated at between 2-5000 depending on whether the embedded contractors were counted in, they were also Special Forces, the best the US has. They were supported by many tens of thousands of US/Saudi armed Kurdish light infantry in hundreds of US supplied vehicles. In addition there was virtually unlimited air support from the USAF, USN and Marines plus the RAF and others in the Coalition.

Others outside the US probably don’t have your optimistic and patriotic view of the US military’s capabilities or your righteous resolve. I doubt the Russians and Chinese do for a start. Also the Taliban seem to have done a good job in fighting the US to a stalemate with hopefully a peace agreement on the way bit like the Vietnamese before them.

We Brits found out over 100 years ago the limits of our power and accepted them. The Russians the same in 1990. I pray for the world that the US, who as you say, has immense military power, is wise enough to do the same.

We could take out the Taliban in a month if we decided to actually fight, though I don’t know if it would be worth the efforts. The will to fight is all we lack. This is why Mattis was fired, he and other neo-cons fight to preserve the status quo instead of fighting to win.

Our nuclear arsenal alone would be enough to tyrannize the world. A less righteous nation who had access to the type of fire power we posses would begin conquering other nations. Make no mistake about it.

As thuggish and evil as the left thinks our military and our history are, they only have that opinion because they are ignorant of what true brutality has looked like throughout human history. ISIS was simply bringing back the tactics that had been used historically by every other caliphate.

I saw the limits of the British power as well. In 2008 when the US had to “Surge” back into RC South (Afghanistan) because the Brits and Canadians couldn’t finish the job in their AO’s. A few years later we had to augment the Spanish & Italians in RC West (Afghanistan) for the same reason. America did all this while controlling our own AO in AFG, winning the war in Iraq, and fighting in the Philippines.

Afghan military prowess is a myth; the only thing they are good at is taking a beating. The Taliban leadership fled to Pakistan because there was no place in their own country where they were safe. They lived in fear there too, always looking skyward, wondering if a drone strike was on the way.

The Taliban had zero operational success against the US Military. They didn’t control one inch of that country. They were repeatedly forced to replace their mid level commanders because they couldn’t make them fight. They learned first hand that engaging us was suicide.

You can’t fix stupid though, nation building there is a waste of time.

Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost regard for our British partners, but you can’t spend all your money on domestic social programs and expect to be a significant force for good in the world. Europe can’t even defend itself anymore. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

When you pray, thank God for the benevolent Judeo-Christian values the United States of America was founded on. Don’t pray for us to learn the limits of our strength, but to always remember the source of it.

I’ll pray that your nation has a profound political awakening rooted in a return to the Christian values that most of Europe has abandoned. That the lies of globalism, multiculturalism, and political correctness will be seen for what they truly are, and be damned! That your nation finds your own leader like Donald Trump. Someone to bring you back to the level of influence that you once had. And that influence would always be for good.

Natty – Boom! That was the best reply to JohninMK evah! And that, my friends, is why England is being successfully invaded by muslims, even as we speak. They have “learned the limits of their power.” Winston C. would turn in his grave at that comment.

I work with a lot of Britons. It has been incredibly interesting watching their responses to questions about Rotherham. They’re embarrassed about it, clearly. Unfortunately, they can’t quite bring themselves to admit that the Muslims are completely at fault for the offenses, and that native Britons are even more at fault for refusing to punish them for more than a decade.

I take great delight in reminding them that, had Britons not let the Home Office disarm them, they could have dealt with this issue themselves and not been dependent on PC Plod. You can really see the discomfort when you remind them that the Rotherham rapists had firearms, even those horrible, horrible pistols that their political class detest so greatly. Long story short, they just don’t want to admit the reality that all rational Americans understand intuitively: at the end of the day, YOU are responsible for your own safety and that of your loved ones. That responsibility cannot be delegated to the police or anyone else, and any person or law that prevents you from fulfilling that responsibility just makes you and your loved ones more vulnerable.

It is like they know there is a 600-lb. gorilla in the room who has extremely bad intentions, but to admit it is to be guilty of rudeness, and to be even more guilty of having allowed themselves to become defenseless in the face of the threat that gorilla represents. Consequently, they just have to retreat behind their disdain for those who would be so crude as to ensure their freedom and safety by force of arms.

There are a lot of fine Britons, Churchill, Thatcher, Baden-Powell, Roger Keyes and others, whose shades undoubtedly find the status of modern Britain absolutely contemptible. Would that we had Kipling back for one month to write about what he sees in Blighty today. It would probably take asbestos paper to record it!

SNL will twist that red and blue map in to a skit imitating the President with a map of how the whole USA (except for Alabama) will be blue in 2020. They will make their predictable joke of how the President is responsible for that. There will be no mention of Obama’s (the first black Clinton) “ISIS is JV” comment.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern needs to ban all of the weapons in Syria and Iraq. It is working in NZ. The Police* are asking people to call ahead when turning in the weapons there is such a rush.

“The time for the easy availability of these weapons must end, and today it will. In short, every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack will be banned in this country. High-capacity magazines and attachments will also be banned along with the “military-style weapons.”

She got real tuff after John Podesta’s visit days before the massacre. NZ seems to have quite compliant sheep, they will disarm. What happens next in the USA is more important, be ready for it, another one is coming. Progs must disarm the people to get their way by government force. Repubs will offer very little objection. They are already rolling over on Red Flag gun confiscation laws.

I am going to have a quiet, private conversation with a police officer I know about whether he would be willing to obey an order to confiscate firearms from civilians. I really hope his answer is “No!”

I guess this is a good thing and PT should consider it an achievement, as should our military. But I never feared isis, I never feared al-qaeda.

I fear my government spilling American blood and spending American treasure to bring peace to places that have hardly, if ever, known peace. I fear Islam in America and dollars to donuts the scum that fought for this anti-human ideology will find heir way back to the West.

I rather preferred the endless bloodletting. I pray not, but this victory will be a hollow one.

In Canada, they are blaming President Trump for the N Z massacre because he did not abolish guns in America. They will probably take the ISIS prisoners with the proviso that they can’t buy any more guns. They will then cross the northern border and Dearborn will be very happy to have them. Criminals to the south, criminals to the north and Nancy Pelosi in the middle.

I am very happy and proud of our president and our military. But all have to remember the land may be free but the ideology remains. We have a war of ideology much like a virus evil mutates into a simular but different form. We must stay vigilant and mindful evil never sleeps. We are being infiltrated from with in some members of congress scare the hell out of me. As Neil Young said rust never sleeps and there is a cancer in congress I pray it doesn’t spread. Beware!

I am very happy and proud of our president and our military. But all have to remember the land may be free but the ideology remains. We have a war of ideology much like a virus evil mutates into a simular but different form. We must stay vigilant and mindful evil never sleeps. We are being infiltrated from with in some members of congress scare the hell out of me. As Neil Young said rust never sleeps and there is a cancer in congress I pray it doesn’t spread. Beware!

“…those foreign fighters were the last to be eliminated.” Eliminated, love the sound of that.
“…In the end, the majority surrendered.” Bummmer!
With a little luck many of them got an up-close and personal look at the demise of their comrades.
Carry the visage with them, pass it on to their children.

They’ve been replaced by another insurgent ideology that now spans the territory from Tehran to Beirut. They are the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Quds Force composed of Iranian Shia Militias who are commanded by Qassem Soleimani. You all do remember the Islamic Republic of Iran don’t you? The ones who daily vow and chant to destroy the US and Israel? Sure you do. ISIS was the alluring carrot on the stick to draw those forces into Syria up to the Golan Heights. Now those forces can now sweep down into the Jezreel Valley in a scenario told about a few millennia ago. Read it some day in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 38 and 39.